ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey has announced a $1 million bounty for the arrest Salih Muslim, the former co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria.
Muslim was added to the Turkish interior ministry’s ‘Red List’, and a 4 million Turkish lira award was allocated for his arrest for his alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
It is the first time Muslim’s name has appeared on the list. He did not immediately comment on the Turkish decision.
The 67-year-old Kobane, Syria, native has frequently denied having any operational links to the PKK, a banned political party and terror-listed organization in Turkey.
Muslim founded PYD in 2003 and served as the co-chair of the party from 2013 to 2017. He announced that he would not run in his party’s September 2017 congress, where Sahoz Hassan was elected as his replacement.
In an interview with BBC published on August 2012, Muslim said that he had spent over 15 years fighting for Kurdish self-governance, adding that instead of becoming a father he chose to be a guerilla fighter and an activist.
At the start of the Syrian conflict, Turkey wanted to negotiate with Kurds in northern Syria, also called Rojava. So Ankara invited and met with Salih Muslim in Turkey. After a series of meetings, nothing was achieved. Turkey began labelling the PYD as an extension of the PKK. PYD and its armed wing, the YPG, deny any links to the PKK. The YPG has fought as a partnered ground force to the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition in Syria.
The Red List, also called the country’s “terror” list, includes 44 other individuals, including Mihrac Ural.
Ural, is a Turkish-Syrian militant who has fought alongside pro-Syrian regime’s forces called the Syrian Resistance. His appearance at the Sochi congress in late-January angered Turkey. Turkey has considered him as a terrorist but it is the first time the Alawite fighter’s name has been included on list.
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